The present invention relates generally to electronic messaging, and in particular to the processing and routing of messages across a network.
As communications increasingly are done electronically, the number of messaging types and devices, as well as the complexity of those messages, is increasing accordingly. Messaging can be done through different messaging channels, such as email, voice messaging, multimedia messaging, video messaging, SMS, MMS, instant messaging, fax, and print exchange messaging. As such, it is desirable to be able to send and/or receive messages using any of the increasing number of channels, as well as to be able to send messages over different channels.
Further, there is an increasing variety of processing that is desired to be performed on various messages. For example, email messaging channels often want to perform filtering on various messages in order to reduce the amount of unwanted messages (i.e., spam messages), as well as to filter out obscene or objectionable content. For telecommunications companies, it can be desirable to perform charging for various messages, as a user might have to pay for different amounts of text messaging, for example.
Previously, companies have attempted to address these concerns by generating specific modules for handling specific tasks. For example, a company might develop and/or install a filtering application or service to perform message filtering. The company might also have to develop or install a module or service for charging, as well as a number of other modules and/or services for message routing and/or processing. The deployment and maintenance of these programs, as well as the cost of the programs and the increased demand on system resources, makes use of these multiple modules undesirable.